Tag: Sarah Fielke

The Woodpile

by Kay, posted in Quilting from Little things

Forget everything you learnt about carefully selected lists of fabric, precision cutting, points that meet and parallel seams. The aim of the game is deconstructed piecing more commonly known as wonky log cabin blocks.

I found it really strange to let go and the first few seams were a bit too, err… straight. After a few tries I got in to the swing of things and thoroughly enjoyed it! Blocks are trimmed at the end and there are only two straight seams in the whole piece. I did sort of fussy cut the centre section which goes against the grain of the woodpile but I fancied having a flower in the middle – so I did. After all we make things to make them our way.

This is the first time I have made a log cabin block too and I will definitely try it again  There was quite a lot of hand stitching and I put more in some blocks than others for variety and interest – plus it gets a bit addictive!

Botanic Gardens Prep

by Kay, posted in Botanic gardens

The kitchen island proved to be the best place to trim the edges ready for binding. Its great for basting too; I used to stick my quilts to the floor to pin and baste but this worktop is long enough to baste even a fairly big quilt in sections. Just the right height and no more sore back and even sorer (is that a word?) knees!

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It was also perfect for cutting as the light was so good

Spring!

by Kay, posted in Spring

The purpose of this dolly quilt is to teach you how to use needle-turn applique to attach bias strips; you get lots of practice with this lovely swirly design as you can see from the photo. To make it easier Sarah suggests buying ready made bias strip, I couldn’t get a nice spotty one but I like the bright green of the plain one that I found

IMGP4425 Spring basted vertical

 

You also learn Sarah’s method of needle-turn applique for the leaves, using a silver gel pen to mark the template outline. This outline forms the edge to be turned under. This way there is no need to worry about freezer paper, gluing, ungluing or seam allowances, etc. It is easy to position the template where you want it if you like to fussy cut. Thinking about it you could even use this method to draw freehand if you are confident enough

I love the colours of this mini quilt, purple is a favourite colour and I used to wear lots of it whether it was in fashion or not.
I changed this slightly from the 21 x 20 inches to 21 inches square. Sarah suggests using it as a cushion but I thought it would make a nice picture and it would be easier to buy a frame if it was square. They have nice box frames in Ikea but I should have checked the sizes as it is slightly too big for their large box frame – I won’t make that mistake again!

I haven’t hand quilted before but enjoyed the process – I like finishing binding by hand too. both are lovely jobs to curl up on the settee with while you watch a film

Now it is finished it is pegged up on the line in my little workroom

Design Wall

by Kay, posted in Botanic gardens, Quilting from Little things

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This is vital for this quilt as there are so many fabrics and colours in it. Eight each of light and dark blue, green, yellow/orange and pink/red. I didn’t have enough colours in my meagre stash so mine is predominantly blue/green, a little yellow and orange with the addition of purple – just use what you have! It is not meant to be a slavish copy.

Design wall

I also didn’t have enough room for an actual design wall so the bookcase was temporarily covered with a table protector. This is plastic on one side but more like flannel on the other. It makes a great alternative to batting and was only $6, so much cheaper too.

Shame the bookcase wasn’t bigger as it started to creep a cross the floor!

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I have also pieced the quilt in sections as I like to chain piece and 21 squares is too awkward to remember the order if chaining in pairs. So it was 8 plus 8 plus 5. It also means you get used to the pattern and don’t make as many mistakes, it helped me anyway

Next the strips were sewn into ‘blocks’

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This quilt is rated 1 star for degree of difficulty – it is only squares and a few half square triangles, but the length of the strips made it difficult to chain piece – for me at least!

I added a border of two fabrics in similar large and medium scale prints in different blues/green/purple but after some thought decided to remove it. It just didn’t look right.

The backing was made up of different fabrics from my stash plus a couple of metres from Spotlight’s stash builder basket. Photos soon